


To Build a Home

by PepperPaprikashPecanPie



Series: Finding Home [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF, Olympics RPF
Genre: Fluff, Home, Pure teeth rotting fluff, Retirement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 20:10:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16667503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PepperPaprikashPecanPie/pseuds/PepperPaprikashPecanPie
Summary: He’d earmarked these very days at the beginning of their comeback as the ones he desperately wanted to do differently- a chance to rewrite his story, right the wrongs of 2014 and 2015, and start his future in the way he’d always scarcely let himself dream. But that was the thing- maybe, just maybe, he could have it all.





	To Build a Home

**Author's Note:**

> _There is a house built out of stone_   
>  _Wooden floors, walls and window sills_   
>  _Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust_   
>  _This is a place where I don't feel alone  
>  _This is a place where I feel at home__

**July 2018**

It was high noon and the sun beat down hot and heavy. Grasshoppers buzzed in the grass and birds flitted from tree to tree in an attempt to find shade. Heat rose in waves from the black pavement that stretched either way into the distance. It had been over two weeks since they’d had rain. The dirt beside the rusted mailbox had grown brittle and cracked, but the break in humidity was much appreciated. The weatherman had forecasted rain today, but the sky was cloudless, the air was hot and dry, and rain seemed elusive at this point in time.

The front porch of his house still smelled of wood stain, though Scott found that he was now rather immune to the smell. He’d called his mom early on Thursday morning and she’d shown up with breakfast sandwiches and coffees to help him varnish the new wooden posts on the front porch. It had been one of the last things he’d needed to do in order to declare his home renovation complete, along with installing the new sink spigot and shower head in the guest bathroom and replacing the light switch plates upstairs. Four years was not exactly the “quick flip” he’d once planned. He’d initially thought that he could tear through the place in a summer with the help of his brothers and buddies, but by the end of the summer in 2014, he found himself staring at a project much larger than he’d anticipated. He’d managed to move in during the month of June, having a functioning bathroom, a livable bedroom, and a partially finished kitchen. But his brothers and buddies had families and jobs, he had known he wasn’t ready to show the place to Kaitlyn, and he hadn’t done anything more than send Tessa an occasional text every week or so.

One cold morning late in December after his trip to the cottage, Tessa had shown up at his front door, two coffees in hand. He had swung the door wide and welcomed her in with a smile and a hug. She’d been the first person outside of his immediate family and buddies from high school to see the house. He’d given her a tour and she’d walked silently through his house, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she examined the work in progress.

“So, what do you think?” He found himself asking, all at once nervous. He hadn’t realized that he would value her approval quite so much.

“These floors are incredible.” She bent down to run her hands over the newly refinished hardwood floors. “You’re lucky you could keep the original hardwoods. Mine were damaged beyond repair.”

“Sanding them down was a bitch.” He chuckled. “I never knew that much sawdust could exist indoors.” He remembered the weekend he and Danny had spent with shop vacs, trying their hardest to remove as much dust as they could from every surface. They’d managed to strip, stain, and seal the floors pretty easily, and he’d immediately fallen even more in love with the house. Shortly after, he’d installed new baseboards and crown molding, but he’d yet to paint or stain them.

“What colour are you thinking for the baseboards?” Tessa had asked. He could tell that she had opinions on the matter, but she wasn’t about to offer them unsolicited.

“Torn at the moment. I’d thought initially about staining them to give it a more rustic feel. But I think white baseboards and moldings would give it a higher resale value.” Tessa nodded in response. “What do you think, T?”

“White.” She spoke confidently. “It will make your floors stand out more. If you’re going for a more rustic look, you could achieve that still with antique furniture pieces and warmer paint colours, but if I were you, I’d keep the baseboards white.”

From then on, Tessa had been the person he’d consulted on style choices. From paint colours to stair railings. He’d appreciated that she really tried to pick things that matched his tastes- simple, warm, homey, livable, rather than her own bright, clean, and sleek style. She’d joined him for nights of painting, working one room at a time before flopping onto his leather couch, beer bottles in hand, to duke it out during an episode of Jeopardy.

By March, the interior of his home was mostly habitable, and as much as he’d tried to make it his own, there were touches of Tessa everywhere he looked. The antique French doors that she’d begged him to keep as she subsequently spent many hours painstakingly stripping the worn varnish off and refinishing them. The deep blue of the front door that they’d picked out together, painting test strips of paint on the faded red of the old front door before deciding on navy. The peony bushes that lined the drive that he’d picked out, knowing she’d love them. It wasn’t her house, but her presence was everywhere. Perhaps that was the reason he’d never brought Kaitlyn to see the place. It didn’t feel right to bring her to the home he’d created with another person.

He sighed and took a sip of his iced tea, thankful that he was still able to call Ilderton home after so many years, thankful for the fact that taking a risk on an old farmhouse had paid off, thankful for the woman that had breathed life into his vision and made his dream home a reality.

He spotted the white SUV in the distance, a cloud of brown dust forming behind the vehicle as it traveled in his direction. The left turn signal flashed as the car pulled into his driveway. It had been a little over a week since he’d last seen her. As she stepped out of the car, he could tell that she was significantly tanner than this time last week. Time in the Mexico sun had done her well.

“Welcome back, weary traveler.” He called as she made her way up the sidewalk. He stood and made his way down the steps of his front porch and immediately wrapped his arms around her. He felt her chest rise and fall against his and she rested her chin on his shoulder. He inhaled the familiar scent of her shampoo, enhanced by the way the sunshine hit her hair. A deep contentment settled in his chest- the kind that came from being fully known and still fully loved. He pressed a kiss against her temple as she drew herself out of his embrace. She turned to face the house, a smile forming on her lips.

“Love the porch!” She remarked. “I can just see it now. Fall evenings in those rocking chairs, hot tea. Just you wait, Moir. You won’t be able to get rid of me.”

Scott chuckled. “My plan all along.”

They had some planning to do for the Thank You Ilderton party, really just working to ensure that they had communicated with all of the people helping to plan the event, delegating the responsibilities as efficiently as they could. He’d poured her a glass of iced tea as they’d settled down to work at his dining room table. Tessa worked from a legal pad with a black ballpoint pen and he typed out the emails. After about an hour, they’d managed to complete the check-list of essential items they had needed to discuss and complete. 

The sun had started to lower in the sky and the shadows outside had grown longer. Scott was sure that the temperature was still through the roof, but he knew that it would begin to drop soon.

“Wanna go for a walk?” He asked, shutting his laptop.

Tessa nodded in agreement, tucking her pen and paper back into her bag. They both stood at the front door and slipped their shoes on before opening the door to a wave of heat.

They walked side by side on the dirt shoulder of the country road. An amicable silence fell between the two. There was an unspoken understanding as to where they were walking as they turned left at the intersection. The familiar faded blue of the Ilderton Arena sat in the distance, drawing ever nearer as they continued to walk. He’d loved that his new home was in walking distance of the skating club- it made jumping in for coach duty every now and then an easy task.

When they reached the front door, Scott pulled it open, holding it so that Tessa could pass before him. She led the way, as if she knew exactly where he was planning on taking them. There was a room on the second level, with windows that overlooked the ice. It was typically used for dance classes or off-ice practice, but at this time of day on a Sunday, it would be empty. Tessa pulled open the door, and the moment they stepped into the room, it all came flooding back.

****  
“What do you think, Alma?” Carol watched the ice from the bay of windows, one small girl in particular. Her pale pink tulle skirt trailed behind her and her mittens were far bigger than her hands, but she already had a confidence about herself on the ice that few children of her age seemed to possess.

“It would be worth a shot.” Alma shrugged. “She seems like a good student. Teachable, kind, everything we’d want for Scott in a partner.”

Carol nodded. “Her family is great too. Parents are very level-headed about it all. They just want her to have fun.”

“It seems like it could be a good fit. Would she be interested in trying out with a partner?”

Carol smiled and snickered a little. “I think she’d be interested in trying out with Scott. She seems to have a little crush.”

“They’d be pretty damn cute.”

****  
“Danny and Jordan say we should be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Wide green eyes stared up at him in silence.

“What do you think, Tessie? Wanna be my girlfriend?”

A quiet word uttered in a small voice as her hands played with the hem of her skirt. “Okay.”

****  
“She’ll be back soon, Scotty.” His mom rubbed circles onto his back.

“No, she won’t. Ballet is her dream. She’s always wanted to be a ballerina.” His voice was angry. Defeated.

“Dreams are a good thing, honey.” She had responded with a soothing voice. “She should chase her dreams. And you should chase yours.”

“But my dream is to skate with her.” Thoughts he’d never bothered to say out loud before.

****  
“You left me, Scott. For two months, you left me.” Angry tears streamed down her face. She swiped them away quickly with the back of her hand.

“I didn’t mean to, Tess. I swear I didn’t.”

“But you did. And now my legs barely work, the Olympics are in a year and a half, and I have no clue who you are anymore.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice cracked, but he couldn’t bother to care. “God, T. I’m so fucking sorry.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. Sobs shook her body, and for the first time since he’d found out about her injury, he cried. Tears for his best friend and her legs that refused to cooperate. Tears of gratitude that she’d chosen to have the surgery so that she could skate with him. Tears for how bad he fucked up and the long road he knew they’d have to walk before they were themselves again. But somewhere, deep within, he knew they’d be okay.

****  
People overwhelmed her. She’d waved politely from the parade. She’d signed more autographs than she could count. She’d hugged people that felt they knew her, never mind that they didn’t. He’d felt her breathe deeply a couple of times, steeling her mind for more interactions with people she didn’t know, smiling brightly as they tried on her brand new gold medal.

He’d grabbed her hand sometime after the cake with their faces on it had been cut and led her upstairs. He’d snagged a few bottles of water and she’d taken a deep pull from one of them as soon as she’d slumped down the wall into a sitting position. They sat in silence for a few minutes sipping water and savoring the empty room in all of its alone-ness.

Once she’d finished her water, he stretched a hand towards her and pulled her up from the ground.

“Thank you.” She smiled, as he opened the door and they made their way back to the party.

****  
“I’m so fucking out of shape, T. It’s not even funny.”

He huffed as they finished working their way through a dance sequence in one of their new exhibitions. The clock on the wall read 11:52. It was late.

“It’ll come back.” She reassured, squeezing his shoulder. “It always does.”

“What if we can’t do this?” His thoughts drifted to Montreal and a new school they’d just decided to join. “What if we fail? What if we don’t even make the podium in Pyeongchang?”

Her green eyes grew bright with newly found resolve. “We’ve always done well as the underdogs. We’ve got this. We’re going to have a fantastic team surrounding us and the best coaches in the world. We’ve got this.”

She reached her hand down to clap his in a handshake that had become as easy to them as finding their edges together on the ice.

“Yeah.” He smiled in response. “We’ve got this.”

****  
The lights were off, but he could smell the sharp tang of the disinfectant they used to wipe down the mats and floors.

“Nostalgia really hits in here, eh?” He smiled, grabbing her hand.

She laced her fingers through his and smiled up at him. “Yeah, it does.”

This place had been woven through each phase of their 21-year partnership, becoming one of the very few things that had remained consistent throughout the years. He could remember so many things that had happened in this room, each one perfectly preserved in his memory. Some days it all felt so common- a trip to Tim Horton’s, the baseball cap hung on the bedpost at his parents’ house, a glass of water after a hot run, a 21-year partnership with Tessa. Other days it seemed so unbelievably sacred- that this incredible woman had actively decided to walk beside him through life’s highs and lows for the better part of 21 years.

“So.” Light sparkled in her eyes as she turned to face him. “Are we finished?”

The last two years had been so good to them. And he knew, deep in his soul, that he was done. They’d accomplished it all. He’d earmarked these very days at the beginning of their comeback as the ones he desperately wanted to do differently- a chance to rewrite his story, right the wrongs of 2014 and 2015, and start his future in the way he’d always scarcely let himself dream.

But that was the thing- maybe, just maybe, he could have it all.

He could see it now. A little boy far too boisterous for his own good, running full steam ahead towards the small pond in the backyard, his bamboo fishing pole slung over one shoulder and a tackle box under his arm. A young girl with light brown hair, a smattering of freckles, and eyes a shade of bright green he’d only ever seen once before, sitting in the window seat in the back of the house, legs tucked under her, attention fixed on a book. Coming home after a long day coaching at the rink. And this woman, this glorious woman, at his side, taking on the world with him, one day at a time. His partner, best friend, cheerleader, confidante, fiercest supporter. His lover. His wife.

He could see it all. And he could see it in the house that he’d built alongside her. A place where the subtleties in design sang of her clean, elegant, timeless taste, and the comfort and livability of a home that he craved whispered his name as he walked through the door.

“Yeah, kiddo. We’re finished.” He spoke the words without a hint of sadness at all. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that what lie ahead of them was far greater than what they were leaving behind. He couldn’t help but smile as he thought of it all and he saw the exact same smile reflected on her face too.

“It’s settled then.” 

He slung an arm over his shoulder and drew her near. When they reached the doorway, he turned off the light. They both turned to survey the empty room before them.

“I’m so proud of us, T.”

She hummed and pressed her head back against his shoulder. They made their way back to the house. Half a mile down the road, they could make out the silhouette in the distance. The street lamps had turned on as the sky had faded to dusk. In the distance, storm clouds gathered against the horizon, gray and ominous. Thunder rumbled as they continued to walk. Under the trees, fireflies winked, and crickets chirped in the high grass alongside the road, unaware of the impending storm. A breeze had picked up, cool and gentle, washing away the heat of the day ever so gently. The front porch light shown as a beacon, welcoming them back home.

Scott took a moment to pause, savoring the way that Tess was pressed against his side, her fingers laced with his by her shoulder. Her other arm looped around his waist and held him close. In so many ways, this moment felt different than he had anticipated. He’d expected an unsettling vacancy to lodge itself deep within his chest. A certain emptiness that could only be filled with taking the competitive ice alongside Tessa. But the void wasn’t there. The sense of dread he’d expected was nowhere to be found. He looked at the woman beside him and the life before them and unspeakable joy coursed through his veins. He couldn’t help but grin.

“What are you smiling at?” She murmured, a slight smirk gracing her lips. 

He reached down to press a kiss against the crown of her head. “So happy, Tess. Just so fucking happy.”

“We’re gonna have a good life, aren’t we?”

 _Life._ As in singular. _Together._ There had always been an unspoken eventually. The allusions made to after. The plans they’d silently made for someday. But in this moment? _Eventually, after,_ and _someday_ were becoming _here, now,_ and _today._

“Yeah,” He agreed, leaning his head against hers as they walked. “Yeah. It’s going to be such a good life.”

**Author's Note:**

> confession: i've had this written since the summer, but never felt quite ready to post it. i didn't really intend for it to end where it does, but i felt like posting it after whatever that was happened tonight in nashville, so here ya go. i could probably be persuaded into writing the second chapter of it, so let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.


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